yahoo.com
11 December 2011
Reuters
By Ben Schmitt | Reuters
PITTSBURGH, Pa (Reuters) – A Roman Catholic priest was arrested on charges he viewed child pornography in the rectory of his Pittsburgh-area church, the diocese said on Sunday.
The Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 62, pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill, Pennsylvania, was arraigned on charges of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony, according to theDiocese of Pittsburgh.
He was being held on Sunday in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, jail officials said.
Sorensen was arrested after a church employee walked into the rectory on Friday and saw Sorensen viewing a computer image of a young boy naked from the waist down, with the words “Hottie Boys” on the screen, police said. She alerted diocesan officials, who immediately contacted police.
Allegheny County detectives found pornographic images of young boys on his computer, police said. During an interview, Sorensen admitted to possessing at least 100 pornographic pictures of children, police said. He has not been charged with abusing children.
Accusations of child abuse and sexual impropriety against Catholic clergy in the United States have rocked the Catholic Church since 2002, and the church has paid out some $2 billion in settlements to abuse victims.
The pornography arrest also comes amid a series of separate scandals that have seen a steady march of men make abuse accusations in recent weeks against coaches at Penn State University, Syracuse University and most recently against a top official at the Amateur Athletic Union.
The Pittsburgh diocese said in a statement that Sorensen had been placed on administrative leave.
“The viewing of pornographic images involving children is a disturbing and criminal act,” the statement said. “The Diocese of Pittsburgh is cooperating to the fullest extent in the investigation of this incident.”
A priest for 35 years, Sorensen had been a pastor at St. John Fisher only for several weeks, having been previously assigned for nine months to St. Anne Church in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. His past includes an assignment as chaplain at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh.
The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, diocese spokesman, said the diocese had provided Sorensen with the names of several possible attorneys after his arrest but it was unclear who he had retained for the criminal case.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Cynthia Johnston)
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Priest charged with viewing child porn in Churchill rectory
Saturday, December 10, 2011
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill was arrested today on a charge of possessing child pornography after investigating detectives said he admitted using his computer in the church rectory to view at least 100 images of child pornography.
The Rev. Bartley A. Sorensen, 62, was arraigned on the third-degree felony early this afternoon in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. District Judge Tara Smith set bail at $100,000 and required Father Sorensen to undergo an evaluation by the Allegheny County Behavioral Clinic and prohibited him from using electronic equipment.
The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, diocesan spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, said in a statement that when diocesan officials learned of a report from a church employee of what she viewed as criminal behavior by Father Sorensen, they immediately contacted police and removed Father Sorensen from active ministry and placed him on administrative leave.
“There were no previous allegations against him,” Father Lengwin said in an interview.
The criminal investigation of Father Sorensen began Friday when Monica Fisher, an office employee at St. John Fisher Church, contacted the Catholic Child Abuse Hotline in regard to what she witnessed that morning in the rectory of the church at 33 Lewin Lane.
According to an affidavit supporting the arrest, she told Detective Lynn Havelka of the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office that she was walking up the stairs from the church’s basement office to the rectory and announced her presence. She said Father Sorensen told her to come up and she heard noises that sounded like a computer mouse being repeatedly clicked.
Upon entering the rectory, according to the affidavit, she saw Father Sorensen sitting at the computer, which had numerous minimized screens. The computer’s monitor showed a boy of from 5 to 10 years old, naked from the waist down, with the words “Hottie Boys” across the top of the screen, the affidavit said.
“She stated that she was appalled and said to Father Sorensen, ‘Really?’ He replied, ‘Oh, yeah,'” according to the affidavit.
Ms. Fisher left immediately and went back to the office and 10 to 15 minutes later Father Sorensen came there and acted as if nothing had occurred, the affidavit said. She told authorities that Father Sorensen, who has been at the church for about three weeks, spends “hours upon hours” on the computer, mostly with the door closed.
The desktop computer is owned by Father Sorensen and is not hooked up to the church’s computers, the affidavit said.
Detective Havelka obtained a search warrant and served it along with Allegheny County Detective Tim Haney. Father Sorensen arrived shortly after the detectives executed the warrant and he admitted to them during an interview that he possessed and viewed at least 100 images of child pornography consisting of prepubescent males.
Detective Haney performed a forensic review of the computer’s hard drive and found several still-image files depicting prepubescent males either posed naked or engaged in sexual activity with other boys or with men.
Father Sorensen, who celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination in October, had most recently been assigned at St. Anne Church in Castle Shannon for nine months.
From 2004 until he was assigned to St. Anne, Father Sorensen was the chaplain at West Penn Hospital. From 1999 to 2003, he was pastor at St. Victor Church in West Deer. He took a year’s sabbatical for personal reasons in 2003, Father Lengwin said.p>
“The viewing of pornographic images involving children is a disturbing and criminal act,” Father Lengwin said in the prepared statement. “The Diocese of Pittsburgh is cooperating to the fullest extent in the investigation of this incident.Please keep in your prayers all victims of the tragedy of sexual abuse.”
A preliminary hearing was set for 10 a.m. Dec. 19 before Penn Hills District Judge Leonard J. Hromyak.
Another priest charged with possession of child porn!